The web pioneer Tim Berners-Lee considers websites like Facebook to be dangerous for the Web. They allow data to get in — but do not offer adequate ways to get them out again. In the Scientific American, Tim stated:
The basic Web technologies that individuals and companies need to develop powerful services must be available for free, with no royalties. Amazon.com, for example, grew into a huge online bookstore, then music store, then store for all kinds of goods because it had open, free access to the technical standards on which the Web operates.
On the contrary, sites like Facebook or LinkedIn are just the opposite. They care about getting loads of data from their users, which in turn “becomes a central platform—a closed silo of content, and one that does not give you full control over your information in it.”
Apple’s iTunes software drives a similar path. “Not using open standards creates closed worlds,” Tim Berners-Lee explains. iTunes “identifies songs and videos using URIs that are open. But instead of ‘http:’ the addresses begin with ‘itunes:,’ which is proprietary. You can access an ‘itunes:’ link only using Apple’s proprietary iTunes program.”
Truly there is a point in Tim’s opinion. You cannot bookmark content in a Smartphone app. You cannot tweet a Skype call (‘skype:call…’) — simply because you are no longer on the Web, but in a closed communication universe.
In my opinion too, a disturbing fact.